There's No Place Like Home (And That's Probably for the Best)

I caught up with artist Olaf Breuning and got a preview of his new film, Home 3, his wacky homage to New York that stars his friend Brian Kerstetter as a spastic tourist. The film is the third in a series—all of them dark, funny explorations of the line between barbarism and civility—the second of which was a favorite at the 2008 Whitney Biennial. Read more about it here.

Monet's Gardens, In NY

GIVERNY AT THE HOLE


Have you seen Monet's gardens? They're in New York! This week, I profiled Kathy Grayson, owner of The Hole, for The Observer about this show, for which artists E.V. Day and Kembra Pfahler created the Giverny gardens at The Hole replete with real and fake grass, a bamboo grove, water lilies (de rigueur!), a Japanese bridge, a pond, and misty pond atmosphere. By all appearances, it looks like Grayson is giving Jeffrey Deitch a run for his money. You can watch how the whole show came together on her blog...

A Week of Clifford Owens

Clifford Owens: Anthology (Kara Walker Detail). Image courtesy On Stellar Rays.

At the start of Armory week, I interviewed Clifford Owens about his plans for his last performance of his residency at MoMA PS1. My report on that interview, and the unexpected turn of events following it, are reported in the following pieces for the Observer.

Clifford Owens and Kara Walker: An Epilogue with RoseLee Goldberg
'You Know You Want it Baby': Clifford Owens is Joined by Kara Walker in His Last Performance
Kara Walker Withdraws Involvement from Clifford Owens Performance
Will Clifford Owens Force a Sex Act on an Audience Member at MoMA PS1 on Sunday?

Waiting for Luhring Augustine

Luhring Augustine Bushwick

With Chelsea gallery Luhring Augustine opening for programming in Bushwick, local artists contemplate big changes. I spoke to artists and curators in Bushwick and Chelsea for Capital New York and attended the panel at The Bogart Salon where they hashed out some of the issues.

Pretty Vacant

Klara Liden @ Reena Spaulings 1/22

Reena Spaulings smelled like pine trees. It was the opening of Klara Liden's show Pretty Vacant and there was a room full of trees that, it seemed, had been collected from the street after Christmas. Some were still covered in tinsel. They were very dry and people were accidentally knocking them over. A young man holding a beer said he thought that was probably the point and that he imagined all the trees falling down like dominoes. There was a leather couch in the center on which a woman was covertly breastfeeding her baby. Another woman walked in with a dog. Then Jeffrey Deitch walked in, stood in the center of the trees, and looked around. I wondered why he was in New York. He was in a pink shirt, tweed jacket, and nude round-framed glasses.

Blind Cut, Uri Aran, Michael St. John

Uri Aran @ Gavin Brown's Enterprise

Michael St. John @ Andrea Rosen

David Lamelas Even Days, 1968; Odd Days, 1968 @ maccarone

Blind Cut, curated by Jonah Freeman and Vera Neykov @ Marlborough Gallery

Dubuffet @ Pace

Portrait of Mie Iwatsuki by Anthony Haden Guest @ freight + volume

Tom Thayer

will be interviewing artist Tom Thayer, for his upcoming show at Derek Eller Gallery and his work in the Whitney Biennial

Next month...

More from this artist...

Some Shows I'll See this Week, Some Already Open

BLIND CUT: Curated by Jonah Freeman and Vera Neykov
@ Marlborough Gallery
1/19 - 2/18

KLARA LIDEN @ Reena Spaulings, Opens Sunday 12-6
1/22 - 2/19




ALLEN GLATTER, @ Rawson Projects
1/28 - 3/11

CENTRE-FUGE Public Art Project on the LES,
1/23 - one year

URI ARAN, @ Gavin Brown's Enterprise
1/14 - 2/25




MATT SIMS @ Envoy Enterprises
1/12 - 2/26




CANYON CANDY @ The Clock Tower Gallery
12/20 - 3/1





RASHID JOHNSON @ Hauser & Wirth
1/11 - 2/25

2 at BookForum

For BookForum, I document the first installment of Cabinet's 24-Book Series, in which the magazine invited an author to write a book in 24 hours [Attempts at Exhausting Cabinet's 24-Hour Book Series], and I review Gary Lutz's book Divorcer.

Feist, Claire Fontaine, and Beecher's

I met Leslie Feist at Lafayette House for BlackBook -- the resulting profile piece was published here. My profile on the artist duo Claire Fontaine (whose exhibit just opened at Metro Picures) was published in Modern Painters. HTMLGiant made nice mention of a piece of fiction I recently had published in the first issue of Beecher's.

Salem

An essay of mine about Salem, "Sweethearts of the Occult," and the mystery (or not) thereof, was published in the Believer's music issue in the company of one of my favorite music compilation CDs the magazine has put out yet. The compilation focuses on contemporary composers like Tristan Perich (whose 1-Bit Symphony excited me when I first heard it at Sanity Disobedience for a New Frontier, a show curated by Rod Malin at a micro-gallery in Williamsburg). Also, there are some great interviews with Trey Anastasio (by Ross Simonini), Brian Eno, and David Byrne.

Ai Weiwei's New York

Bill Clinton, Allen Ginsberg, and Drag Queens at Wigstock



In conjunction with the opening of the exhibit at the Asia Society Museum of the photographs of artist Ai Weiwei during his life in the East Village in the 80s and early 90s, I prepare a selection of photographs from the exhibit for Flavorwire. Bill Clinton, Allen Ginsberg, and Chinese expatriate intellectuals are among those in the artist's portraits.

Promoters Changing NY Nightlife

On Top, The Cosmic Cavern, and ABRACADABRA


At BlackBook, I cover five show promoters and/or artists who throw interesting events in New York. Suzanne Bartsch, Kenny Scharf, Todd Pendu, and more...

Ritual Films

I went upstate yesterday to partake in one of artist Micki Pellerano's ritual films. I wore face paint, fur, had my hair teased, was asked to wear real snake skin (said no), and held a brass unk cross. Micki is in the tree here, as is Bruno from Light Asylum, and Danny. More on this coming soon...

Rashaad Newsome at Flash:Light

Herald Cut Short



I write a piece for Artinfo about Rashaad Newsome's aborted performance of Herald at Flash:Light, the festival within the Festival of Ideas for the New City presented by the New Museum.

Rashaad Newsome

Artist Rashaad Newsome creates mash-ups of hip hop and the rites of heraldry.

Alexander McQueen

Coinciding with next week's opening of Savage Beauty at the Met, at Flavorwire, I take a look back at some great moments in the career of fashion designer Alexander McQueen -- like the insane asylum-themed show, for example, the center piece of which is pictured above.

Food Trucks, Supper Clubs and Dead Theaters

Photo courtesy High Society Dining Club

On Flavorwire this week, I explore artisanal food trucks (like Coolhaus) across the US, the Rise of the Pop-Up Restaurant and Supper Club, including JBF LTD, LTO, Veronica's Sunday Supper, one pop-up in LA -- Underground Wine Tasting Dinner -- that takes place in architecturally significant homes, and another -- the High Society Dining Club -- that takes itself literally. Also, Dead and Repurposed Movie Theaters in homage to the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival.

BEBE ZEVA for VICE

Almost Famous


Photo: Leigh Alexander

I wrote a piece for VICE on Bebe Zeva and BEBE ZEVA, the film Tao Lin and Megan Boyle directed of the almost famous Internet personality. Tao Lin called her a "genius." A genius! Read here. Decide for yourself.

The piece has some imaginative comments. Take these examples:

"..." says: I really hope virtually everyone involved with this article dies young. And I don’t mean “bad lifestyle, middle aged heart attack” young, I mean “flowers laid against a wall, photos tied to lamposts” young.

"Republik of Mancunia" says: Heres a thought why not follow someone useful and of interest like a childrens cancer doctor or street cleaner. In fact why not just turn over the whole of Vice to the street cleaners.

"workingclassfuckup" says: Cuntpuppets!

"Hoppy Harry" says:

I dunno… it’s in the language she uses.

“I try to prove myself on the internet by like getting friends like that,” she says.

Who the fuck talks like that in real life?

"JL" says: Fuck celebrity, fuck virtual success. Fuck the entire internet generation, with their entire lives mapped on Facebook from birth to death.